Flying High: shaping the future of drones in UK cities
What we have found •
There are clear benefits to, and enthusiasm for, using drones for many tasks in UK cities
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There is a lot to do - but to unlock these benefits, we need to address issues of public confidence, feasibility and stakeholder alignment in particular
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We propose a programme of challenge prizes to shape drone technology for good, and to earn a drone dividend for Britain
Around the world, drone technology is developing. Services are being created and rethought thanks to the new possibilities they bring. Drone technology is already operating in our cities today and will continue to develop with its own momentum, regardless of what the UK chooses to do. But the UK has the choice whether it wants to lead, or whether it wants to follow. Whether it wants to shape how drones are used, or let others do the shaping. Based on extensive discussions with cities, technologists, regulators and other stakeholders, we have come to some conclusions around the issues preventing the realisation of public benefit from the use of drones in UK cities today. For each of these conclusions, we present recommendations for issues need to be resolved and what should happen next.
The benefits of drones are recognised by cities We have found broad enthusiasm for some uses for drones in the UK but not for all Our close engagement with five cities, and the competition among 15 others to participate in the Flying High project revealed a huge appetite for socially beneficial uses of drones. These are primarily uses supporting city, public and emergency services. There was far less interest in the more commercial or speculative uses of drones, such as to carry parcels or people. The public discussion on drones, sometimes influenced by PR for drone companies, is not sufficiently focused on these socially useful use cases. A great deal of publicity has been given to speculative use cases like flying cars and delivering online shopping. There may be a place for these in the long term, particularly to solve specific local problems (such as access to island communities), but these are a distraction from the more immediate and socially beneficial uses drones could be put to. Industry - and the public discussion on drones - should first focus on these. The use cases we have focused on in this report - medical logistics, connecting remote communities, road and fire incident response, urban regeneration - have broad support
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